Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Cotard Delusion or Walking Corpse Syndrome is an extremely
rare mental illness, in which one perceives that they are actually dead, either
literally or figuratively. People who become sick with this illness undergo a
symptom called delusion of negation, the central symptom of this syndrome. This
means that the person usually denies their existence, or their body parts, or
portions of their body. Contard’s syndrome usually set on in three stages, the
first being symptoms of psychotic depression and hypochondria appear. The
second stage, called the blooming stage, is the full development of the
syndrome and the delusions of negation, and finally the final chronic stage,
where the person continues to have severe delusions and chronic psychiatric
depression. Ultimately people with this illness become withdrawn from society
and neglect personal hygiene and physical health. They are unable to make sense
of or perceive an external reality and in some cases start to show signs of schizophrenia.
Neurologically speaking the problem might be related to the neural misfiring in
the fusiform face area of the brain, and the amygdalae, which is associated
with emotions and face recognition.

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Perception

The psychology of Perception involves the interaction of our senses and our conscious mind. Perception is involved in every aspect of our lives as we make decisions and judgments based on what we experience. If you study diligently you will leave this course with a broad understanding of sensation and perception. From this general understanding you will be able to further investigate areas of interest by means of literature review and research on specific topics.